In 2001 the Institute of Medicine identified a significant gap between what is known about how we care for patients and the care that they receive. This identified gap renewed interest in the development and implementation of evidence-based practice (EBP). A number of research studies have evaluated barriers to EBP yet questions still arise as to why evidence is not routinely incorporated into practice. This led to a new field of inquiry called implementation science focused on methods for translating evidence into practice. The Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services (PARiHS) framework purports that successful implementation of EBP is a function of the strength of the evidence to be implemented, the quality of the context into which it will be implemented and appropriate facilitation. There currently are levels of evidence and measures of context that can be utilized but no measures of appropriate facilitation. The purpose of this research was to develop an instrument (the Facilitation Assessment Index) to measure facilitation. This methodological study was conducted to determine the psychometric properties of an investigator-developed instrument to define and measure the concept of facilitation. The instrument was distributed to1025 Registered Nurses in an Academic Medical Center. The response rate was 28%. The majority of respondents were in a staff nurse role, over age 35 and had at least a Bachelor's degree. The Facilitation Assessment Index (FAI) demonstrated adequate psychometrics. Factor analysis delineated four subscales entitled Support, Leadership, Respect and Autonomy. The overall reliability of the scale was r = .93 and the range of reliability of the subscales was r = .85-.93. The test-retest correlation for the total scale was r = .85 (p<.001). Correlations for the subscales ranged from r = .61-.85 (p<.01).Relationships between demographic variables and facilitation were evaluated. Both unit and job title variables demonstrated relationships with scale scores but group sizes were not equal. Future research is needed to strengthen the psychometric properties of the FAI. Subsequent research could focus on use in strengthening the PARiHS framework and quantifying the amount of facilitation needed to implement EBP.

Choral music in the United States before 1800 was almost exclusively composed by tunesmiths who also worked as singing masters. William Billings (1746-1800) was the most prolific of these composers, and, in 1770, he was the first individual in North America to publish a collection composed entirely of his own works. This collection was known as a tunebook, and was designed to assist in the teaching of musical fundamentals and vocal performance in the singing schools. Five additional tunebooks followed; three of these six contained lengthy prose introductions in which Billings addressed pedagogy, music theory, and sight singing. This prose provides important information about the performance practice of the period, including the issues of accompaniment, articulation and text, dynamics, balance and voicing, ornamentation, and vocal timbre. Previous researchers have often mistakenly grouped the music of the tunesmiths with the later southern hymnists. This has distorted many general notions of historically informed performance practice for the pre-1800 tunesmiths. An examination of what Billings specifically says regarding issues of performance practice in his tunebook introductions, as well as inferences from additional prose material, will help to guide modern conductors to more historically appropriate performance practice. A comparison of this information to prior research will isolate approaches that have previously been considered accurate performance practice, but may, in fact, be inappropriate for choral music of this genre. Finally, an understanding of the intended purpose of the compositions, as well as the historical context, will help to inform performance practice.

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This study asks 1) What is the relationship between art, creativity, and social justice? 2) How do the theories of John Dewey, Maxine Greene, and Jane Piirto inform our understanding of this relationship? 3) What is the role of the arts in contemporary curriculum? To answer these questions, the study chronicled the various roles of art in Western society, from Classical Greece through the present day, before exploring the aesthetic theories of Dewey, Greene, and Piirto. The findings suggest that the absence of an arts-integrated curriculum in most American public schools does not imply the absence of art programs in society. To the contrary, communities provide numerous opportunities for citizens to participate in the making of art. The existence and number of these non-school experiences demonstrate that the community does place importance on the artsa direct contrast from the dominant philosophies of aesthetics and education. These communal acts of making artacts of making democracy, at timesare frequently self-generating. That is, no formal sanctioning of art by the school as an institution is necessary for democratic acts of art to occur. While the philosophies of Dewey and Greene require one to possess conscious intent and engage in reflection to make meaningful, socially just art, these findings imply that art may also be enacted bodily, without the presence of mental reasoning. The author offers the term intuitive presence to describe this participation in community for the purpose of artistic creation and human understanding, to complement Greenes theory of wide-awakeness. The study compels researchers to revisit our current interpretation of an aesthetic experience, to assess what art should be included in curriculum, and to broaden our explanation of how art for social justice is created.